Insurgent - Tobias POV
by Johanna8D
Summary: Well, it's basically what the Title says... Insurgent but from Tobias Point of View. Y'all seemed to enjoy my Divergent from Tobias POV so here's Insurgent. Hope you enjoy! :)
1. On Our Way

We're getting close to Amity Headquarters, and it's almost time to jump of the train. I look down at Tris, leaning against the wall of the train car, asleep. She looks so peaceful, even though her arm is covered in blood and she just lost both her parents. It pains me to have to wake her, bring her back to the cruelty of reality. But I have to do it.

I crouch down in front of her, gently putting a hand on her good shoulder.

She takes in a deep breath, holds it for a while and then breathes out.

"Tris, come on", I say. "We have to jump."

I grab her hand and help her stand up, walking with her toward the door. Peter jumps off first, followed by Marcus and then Caleb. Tris takes my hand as we stand in the doorway, and then we jump. I land hard on the ground, although on my feet, unlike Caleb for example. I turn to look at the high, not-climbable fence. We're completely alone – the gate is unguarded.

"There are supposed to be Dauntless guards here", my father says. "Where are they?"

"They were probably under the simulation," I reply, "and are now…" I stop to think for a moment. We stopped the simulation, but I have no idea what happened to the Dauntless after that, or where they went. "Who knows where, doing who knows what", I finally say.

At least it'll make it easier for us to pass through. I walk up to the little metal keypad next to the gate.

"Let's hope the Erudite didn't think to change this combination", I say, mostly to myself, as I type in the eight-number code I was taught while working in the control room.

"How did you know that?" Caleb asks. He sounds different, voice full of emotion.

"I worked in the Dauntless control room, monitoring the security system", I explain. "We only change the codes twice a year."

"How lucky," Caleb says, giving me a look of something I can't quite place.

"Luck has nothing to do with it. I only worked there because I wanted to make sure I could get out", I reply.

Turns out it was useful after all.

Tris takes the lead as we walk, and I stay close to her. It feels like every moment with her is important. I almost lost her today.

Peter and Marcus walks behind us, Marcus supporting Peter who holds his wounded arm against his chest. Caleb walks somewhere in the middle.

After a while we reach an orchard that we have to walk through to get to Amity headquarters. Between the thick trees shines glowing windows, and the light gives me hope, hope that we'll be safe again.

When we're nearing the end of the orchard Marcus walks up to us, saying: "I know where to go."

We follow him to the second building to our left. I'm not sure how he's able to remember which building is the right one, since they all look pretty much the same, built in thick, dark wood.

Marcus opens the door and we walk into a room so quiet it makes our footsteps sound incredibly loud. He then leads us to a room where someone who could only be Johanna Reyes sits, looking out through a window.

"Oh, thank God", she says, walking toward Marcus with arms outstretched. But instead of hugging him, like I thought she would, she touches his shoulders.

I have to admit that even though half her face is covered by a thick scar stretching from her forehead down to her lip, she's still kind of beautiful, in her own way.  
"The other members of your party got here a few hours ago, but they weren't sure if you had made it", Johanna says. I'm not sure which group she's referring to, but I decide not to ask.

Johanna studies our group, looking first at me, then Caleb, Tris, and finally Peter.

"Oh my", she says as her eyes fall on his bloody arm. "I'll send for a doctor. I can grant you all permission to stay the night, but tomorrow, our community must decide together. And," she gives Tris and me a stern look, "they will likely not be enthusiastic about a Dauntless presence in our compound. I of course ask you to turn over any weapons you might have."

I do not doubt to give her my weapon, since it's obvious and would only cause trouble if I kept hit, but when Tris reaches back for a weapon that's not visible I take her hand and guide it away. We might need some sort of protection later.

"My name is Johanna Reyes", Johanna says, shaking Tris's hand and then mine. It suddenly hits me that the way she greeted Marcus was very Abnegation-like, with as minimal touching as possible, and the shaking of hands was a more Dauntless greeting. Amity is indeed the kindest faction.

"This is T-" Marcus starts introducing, but I interrupt him.

"My name is Four", I say. "This is Tris," I gesture with my hand, "Caleb, and Peter."

I don't know why, but I didn't want people to call me by my first name here. It made me feel so exposed. I also didn't want people to hear my name and think of me as the Abnegation leader Marcus's son, because I'm not. I'm a completely different person.

"Welcome to the Amity compound", Johanna says, smiling. "Let us take care of you."

Peter is taken away to the hospital wing of the compound and Tris is given a healing salve for her shoulder before Johanna escorts us to the cafeteria. There are Abnegation members there, and some of them recognize Tris and Marcus and come forward to greet them with smiles and a lot of tears.

Tris holds on to my arm, and when I look at her she looks sad, pained.

One of the Abnegation gives her a cup with pink liquid and says: "Drink this. It will help you sleep as it helped some of the others sleep. No dreams."

Tris empties the cup pretty quickly and her grip of my arm loosens. She blinks slowly now, as if her eye_ weights too much to keep them open. Johanna calls for someone who tells me they're going to show us to our rooms. I support Tris as we walk through several hallways until we reach the right room. I lift Tris up and put her in the bed, and she mumbles something before she immediately falls asleep.

Then I'm escorted to my own room. A red t-shirt lays waiting for me on the bed. I'm not sure if I like the color at all, but I change into it anyways and decide to get some rest. I fall asleep pretty quickly.

**Aaah, first chapter of Insurgent from Tobias POV! What did you guys think? Was it as good as my Divergent story or was it worse? Please leave a review telling me what you thought, it really means a lot. Thanks y'all! :)**

**P.S I know I said I'd probably write Insurgent next year but I couldn't wait, it's such an amazing story. **


	2. Decisions, decisions

I wake up by the sunlight shining at me through the window. I get up and pull my hand through my hair a couple of times. Then I start walking towards Tris's room. On my way there I bump into the same girl who'd shown Tris and me to our rooms last night.

"Here's some medicine for your girl", she says with a smile, handing me a small bottle with clear liquid inside. "She was still sleeping when I checked in and I didn't want to wake her. By the way, the Amity is meeting in the orchard to decide who gets to stay in about a half hour. Thought you should know. And I'll tell the girls brother, too."

Then she walks toward the direction I came from and I keep walking to Tris's room, wondering in the back of my mind how she knew about our relations to each other, if she was just guessing. I knock on her door before entering.

"Come in", Tris's voice calls out.

I open the door and take a small step inside. She looks better, her eyes brighter today.

"The Amity are meeting in a half hour. To decide our fate", I tell her with a dramatic touch.

"Never thought my fate would be in the hands of a bunch of Amity", she says, shaking her head.

"Me either." I suddenly remember what I'm holding in my hand. "Oh, I brought you something. Pain medicine. Take a dropperful every six hours." I take of the cap of the bottle and hands her the dropper.

"Thanks", she says, tilting her head back and squeezing the dropper into her mouth.

"How are you, Beatrice?" I ask her. I decide to give her real name a try, because when I look at her in this moment it doesn't feel right to call her Tris. That's the name she chose to escape her Abnegation past, to become Dauntless, but we're factionless now. Tris is her name, but the name she left behind is also part of who she is.

"Did you just call me Beatrice?"

"Thought I would give it a try. Not good?" I smile.

"Maybe on special occasion only. Initiation days, Choosing Days…" She stops. Abnegation holidays. She didn't get the chance to learn the Dauntless holidays, but I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm not even sure if Dauntless will still exist after all of this is over.

I ignore the thought, because it's too painful and confusing to think about.

"It's a deal", I say. "How are you, Tris?"

She stiffens a little and she takes a while to answer my question, like she really has to think about it.

"I'm.." she says, shaking her head. "I don't know, Four. I'm awake. I…" She doesn't stop with the shaking of her head.

It pains me to see her hurt this bad, but I'm not sure how to comfort her. I reach forward, touching her cheek gently with my hand. A tingling feeling spreads through my body when we touch, and I bend down and kiss her. I feel her hands wrapping around my arm, hard.

"I know", I say. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

She might not be able to find words for her feelings, but I understand that she's nowhere near okay. She just lost her parents. I allow myself to think about my mother for a short second, allowing myself to remember the grief I felt.

"I'll let you get ready", I say, letting go of her.

As I close the door to her room behind me I just stand there for a couple of seconds, unsure where to go. I look down at my hands and they're full of reminders of what has happened the last twenty-four hours. My nails and fingers are covered in dirt and my knuckles are red and split from punching. _Tris? _

I shake the thought and the guilt away. I was under a simulation- I didn't know what I was doing. I would _never _hurt her intentionally.

I head to the Men's bathroom to wash my hands, but when I get there I figure I might as well just take a shower. I can almost not remember the last time I took a shower, when everything was normal and I was living in the Dauntless compound. It seems so long ago, although it has only been a couple of days.

Time flies as I shower and when I get out it's time to head to the meeting. I meet Caleb outside and we decide to go get Tris together. I knock on her door again and she opens almost immediately. At first I think we stopped at the wrong door, because she looks so different. But then I realise that her hair is just shorter- a lot shorter. Although I liked her long hair, she looks more striking with short hair. It makes her features sharper, making her appearance even more magnetic to me.

"You cut your hair", Caleb says.

"Yeah", replies Tris. "It's… to hot for long hair."

The pause in the middle makes me think that wasn't the real reason for her to cut her hair off, but I don't say anything.

"Fair enough", says Caleb and we start walking.

The air outside is warm and thick, realizing Tris actually had a point about it being to warm for long hair.

"Does everyone know you're Marcus's son?" Caleb asks me. "The Abnegation, I mean?"

"Not to my knowledge. And I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it", I reply, giving him a stern look.

"I don't need to mention it. Anyone with eyes can see it for themselves." He pauses and frowns. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Eighteen."

"And you don't think you're too old to be with my little sister?"

I let out a cold laugh. As far as I know, Caleb recently chose to stand for the principle _Faction before blood_ and dismissed Tris when she came to him for help during Dauntless initiation. What a big brother.

"She's not your little anything", I say.

"Stop it," Tris says before Caleb has the chance to answer. "Both of you."

**Sorry, had to end it here or it would've been too long, but I promise the next chapter will be longer. So what did you think? Was it good? I tried to write some things Tobias did without Tris being around, things that weren't in the book. Do u guys like that or not? Please leave a review answering those questions and I'll see you next time! Bye :)**


	3. When Words are Not Enough

We follow a crowd of Amity into a circular building made entirely of glass. Several trees and other plants grow around the edges of the greenhouse, and Johanna Reyes stands in the middle of the room among the roots of a huge tree that grow in a pool of water.

I touch my hand to Tris's back, guiding her toward an empty space among the Amity and the Abnegation sitting on the floor. She looks sad as she looks at the rows of the Abnegation members, and I wonder if she's thinking about her parents.

Before we sit down on the floor, I lean in and put my mouth close to her ear.  
"I like your hair that way", I whisper.

She smiles a little, which was what I was hoping to see, but the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. We sit down and she leans against me as Johanna lifts her hand, looking down at the floor. The voices in the room fades away and it's soon dead quiet. I see people whispering to themselves and I wonder if they're praying.

After a few seconds Johanna says: "We have before us today an urgent question, which is: How will we conduct ourselves in this time of conflict as people who pursue peace?"

As soon as she stops talking the people in the room starts to chatter with each other, each and every one of them with different opinions and well thought-through arguments.

"How do they get anything done?" says Tris after a few minutes of loud chattering.

"They don't care about efficiency, they care about agreement", I reply. "Watch."

After several minutes of loud chattering the small groups of discussing people grow bigger. A group of three women join another group of four men. A woman dressed in yellow step forward to connect two other groups, and soon almost everyone in the room have risen to become a few, big groups. They are now standing quiet, waiting for the last people who are still discussing.

"This is bizarre", Tris says.

"I think it's beautiful."

She gives me a strange look, like I must be crazy to think that.

"What?" I say with a laugh. "They each have an equal role in government; they each feel equally responsible. And it makes them care; it makes them kind. I think that's beautiful."

Kindness. It's something I've always wanted and tried hard to possess, but it doesn't come naturally to me. But I think meeting Tris has helped me. She's always so strong and kind, which is what I love about her. Being with her has also required me to be kind. I've never had to be nice to anyone because I had almost no friends, but with Tris I have to be kind if I don't want to loose her. And I really, really don't.

"I think it's unsustainable", Tris replies. "Sure, it works for the Amity. But what happens when not everyone wants to strum banjos and grow crops? What happens when someone does something terrible and talking about it can't solve the problem?"

She's got a point. This terrible thing has already happened and I'm not sure just talking about it will solve anything.

So I shrug and say: "I guess we'll find out."

One person from each of the groups in the room walks up to Johanna and says something to her, too quiet for the rest of us to hear.

"They're not going to let us argue with them, are they", Tris says, but it's not a question.

"I doubt it."

No, the people in this room have already made up their minds and we've got nothing to say about it.  
When everyone has returned to the group Johanna speaks up for the people of Amity.

"Our faction has had a close relationship with Erudite for as long as any of us can remember", Johanna says, her voice calm and soft as she looks out over the crowd. "We need each other to survive, and we have always cooperated with each other. But we have also had a strong relationship with Abnegation in the past, and we do not think it is right to revoke the hand of friendship when it has for so long been extended.

We feel that the only way to preserve our relationships with both factions is to remain impartial and uninvolved. Your presence here, though welcome, complicates that."

It feels like my heart has dropped to the bottom of my stomach. This doesn't sound good.

"We have arrived at the conclusion," she says, "that we will establish our faction headquarters as a safe house for members of all factions, under a set of conditions. The first is that no weaponry of any kind is allowed on the compound. The second is that if any serious conflict arises, verbal or physical, all involved parties will be asked to leave." I remember the tension between Tris and Peter and the hate I feel for my father, and our future here doesn't look very bright, but a flare of hope still burns inside of me.

"The third is," Johanna continues, "that the conflict may not be discussed, even privately, within the confines of this compound. And the fourth is that everyone who stays here must contribute to the welfare of this environment by working. We will report this to Erudite, Candor and Dauntless as soon as we can. You are welcome to stay here if and only if you can abide by our rules." Johanna is now looking directly at Tris and me as she keeps talking. "That is our decision."

That flare of hope inside of me dies like someone threw a bucket of water on it.

"We won't be able to stay long", Tris says to me, almost like she read my mind.

"No, we won't", I reply.

Tris, Caleb and I walk quietly back to our rooms, neither of us in the mood for talking. Our future in the Amity compound doesn't seem to be very long lasting.

When I'm back in my room I sit down on my bed, just thinking.

What if the Erudite get here before we leave and try to get rid of us? How far will the Amity go to prevent conflict, and if they don't choose to stand by and do nothing, which side will they take? Also, if we won't be able to stay here for much longer, where will we go next? To the Candor? How would they try to solve the problem, would they come up with a better solution then the Amity? At least they won't lie or avoid the truth.

There are so many questions in my head and I can't sort them out or answer them, and it gives me a headache. I press my palms to my face to try and block the thoughts out, but it doesn't work. I get up and look through the shelves in my room, trying to find some pain-reducing medicine. I find what I was looking for and swallow one of the pills with a sip of water. Then someone knocks on my door.

I open the door and Caleb walks in, looking thoughtful.

"Everything alright?" I ask him.

"Yeah, fine", says Caleb. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

I wait for him to continue.

"About Beatrice", he finally says.

"Oh, the big brother talk", I say with a smile. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"It's not the big brother talk, I just want to get to know you better", protests Caleb. "You know, make sure my sister isn't dating a psycho or anything."

I sit down on my bed. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, you can start by telling me how you two met."

"Okay, um… well, your sister transferred to Dauntless, as you know, and joined the group of initiates that were trained and mentored by me. I could see from the very beginning that she was very brave and strong- mentally strong, maybe not physically. Our initiation process consists of three stages, the first physical which means fighting and firing a gun, but also knife-throwing which she was good at, but she was even better at the second and third stage, the primarily emotional and mental stuff. I guess during these stages we just… got to know each other. Anyways, I wanted to tell you that I really like your sister, and I'm not messing around or anything. I don't want to hurt her."

"Well, good. I believe you", Caleb says, nodding. Then he lifts his eyebrows. "Hold on, you said my sister were good at knife-throwing, from the start?"

"Um, yes. Well, she was good for a beginner, anyways. But now she's probably as good as me."

"Yeah, right." He rolls his eyes. "You're probably preposterously good after practicing for two years."  
_Preposterously. _Such and Erudite thing of him to say.

"Well, can you show me?" Caleb continues. "I'd like to learn how to do it."

I hesitate for a moment, but I can't find a reason why not, so I get up and look around my room. On the top of my dresser there's a tray with left over food from my breakfast this morning. I place the cheese in front and take a knife with me as I walk over to the other side of the room. Then I repeat the same motion I've been perfecting for two years, ignoring Caleb's sharp eyes watching my every move.

Inhale, position the knife. Exhale, throw. The knife spins in the air almost like in slow motion and hits the cheese right in the middle.

"Wow", Caleb says. "Can I try?"

He pulls the knife out of the cheese and walks over to me. I shrug and sit down on the floor as I watch him, leaning my head against the wall. He tries to copy my moves but he moves awkwardly, his arm moving outward in a as he pulls it forward to throw. The knife flies too far to the left and bounces against the dresser down on the floor.

"No, not like that!" I say, laughing.

"What do you mean, 'not like that'?" Caleb protests, picking the knife up. "I imitated you perfectly."

"You did not."

"Well, do it again, then." He hands me the knife.

I do it from where I am, sitting down; I inhale while lifting my arm, focus on the target- sorry, the cheese, and then I throw while exhaling. The door opens just as the knife hits the cheese at the same spot again, and I look over to see Tris standing in the doorway. Caleb continues to stare at the cheese in disbelief for a few seconds before looking at Tris.

"Tell me he's some kind of Dauntless prodigy", Caleb says to Tris. "Can you do this too?"

"With my right hand, maybe", Tris says. "But yes, Four is some kind of Dauntless prodigy. Can I ask why you're throwing knives at cheese?"

I look up, surprised by her use of my nickname. It doesn't sound right anymore. Four is the Dauntless who cares only about being brave, and who is good at it. Four is the Dauntless prodigy, not me. Not Tobias.

"Caleb came by to discuss something", I say to answer Tris's question. "And knife-throwing just came up somehow."

"As it so often does", she says sarcastically, but she smiles and as she does, it makes me feel light, almost happy. I can't look away from her, a warmth spreading through my body, and I see all kinds of things in her eyes; love, curiosity, humor, but still that sadness.

Caleb suddenly clears his throat, drawing my attention from Tris. He looks at me, then at Tris, and then back at me again.

"Anyway, I should be getting back to my room. I'm reading this book about the water-filtration systems", Caleb says. "The kid who gave it tome looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to tread it. I think it's supposed to be a repair manual, but it's fascinating." He hesitates. "Sorry. You probably think I'm crazy too."

"Not at all", I say, although it's not completely true. That book sounds incredibly boring. "Maybe you should read it too, Tris", I suggest with a smile, because I know she's nowhere near interested. "It sounds like something you might like."  
"I can loan it to you", Caleb says, voice hopeful.

"Maybe later", Tris says, although I can see that she would've said no if anyone else was asking, but she doesn't want to hurt her brother. Always so selfless.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to (please) leave a review telling me what you think! :)**


	4. I Knew You Were Trouble

Tris glares at me after Caleb has left.

"Thanks for that. Now he's going to talk my ear off about water filtration and how it works", says Tris. "Though I guess I might prefer that to what he wants to talk to me about."

I lift my eyebrows. "Oh? And what's that? Aquaponics?

"Aqua-what?"

"It's one of the way they grow food here. You don't want to know."

The complicated ways of growing food at Amity makes even me wish I'd never known.

"You're right, I don't", Tris says. "What did he come to talk to you about?"

"You. I think it was the big-brother talk. 'Don't mess around with my sister' and all that."

I get up from my bed and move closer to her.

"What did you tell him?" Tris asks.

"I told him how we got together – that's how knife-throwing came up. And I told him I wasn't messing around."

I place my hands on her hips, gently pushing her back against the door and then I kiss her. She lets her arm slide beneath my t-shirt over my back, leaving a trail of heat on my skin. It feels like I can't get close enough to her and I have trouble breathing. Then, somewhere in the back of my dizzy mind, I remember that she must've a reason for coming to my room.

"This isn't what you came here for", I say, reluctantly pulling away as little as possible.

"No."

"What did you come for, then?"

"Who cares?" she says, her fingers tangling in my hair, pulling me closer.

We kiss again, but it doesn't feel as right as before, not when she had another reason for coming here. It might've been important.

It's hard, but I manage to pull away a little again. "Tris", I mumble.

"Okay, okay", she says, closing her eyes.

She sits down on my bed and I follow her. She starts telling me about how she followed my dad and Johanna and what she heard them talking about; the simulation attack and Marcus's theory about what the Erudite truly wanted from the Abnegation.

"Well, what do you think?" she asks as she finishes the story.

"I think," I say slowly, choosing my words carefully, "that it's Marcus trying to feel more important than he is."

"So… what?" says Tris. "You think he's just talking nonsense?"

"I think there probably is some information the Abnegation knew that Jeanine wanted to know, but I think he's exaggerating its importance. Trying to build up his own ego by making Johanna think he's got something she wants and he won't give it to her."

"I don't…" she hesitates for a moment, eyes thoughtful and she frowns. "I don't think you're right. He didn't sound like he was lying."

"You don't know him like I do", I say, my voice turning bitter as I think about all the lies I grew up with, everything he said to cover up why my face or arms were bruised. "He is an excellent liar."

She seems to think about this for a while. "Maybe you're right," she finally says, "but shouldn't we find out what's going on? Just to be sure?"

"I think it's more important that we deal with the situation at hand. Go back to the city. Find out what's going on there. Find a way to take Erudite down. Then maybe we can find out what Marcus was talking about, after this is all resolved. Okay?"

She nods, but I'm not one hundred percent sure that I've convinced her.

The next morning I'm on kitchen duty. The kitchen is small and crammed with people, which doesn't make anything easier. I try to take deep breaths as I scrub a plate clean but I keep imagining how the walls are closing in on me.

"Aren't you Tobias Eaton? Marcus's son?" a boy's voice next to me asks.

I throw a quick glance at him. He's an Amity, dressed in yellow and red clothes.

"That's none of your business", I reply, looking down at my hands as I reach for a glass.

"It kind of is", he says. "I've heard you're just a bunch of trouble. What are you doing here, anyways?"

"Oh, I don't know if you've heard," I say sarcastically, "but the Erudite just put every Dauntless in a simulation and made them attack the Abnegation. The Amity seemed like the best option to be left alone, but I'm not so sure anymore."

"Yeah? Well, I think we made the right choice." He glares at me. "It'll be hard, but this is the only way to prevent conflict, although you and that girlfriend of yours aren't really making anything easier. You're just troublemakers, I tell ya'."

Something about the way he says _girlfriend, _like it's a bad thing, makes a wave of anger course through me.

"Yeah, well, I've got another suggestion for you." I put down the glass and walk up to him, so close that he's forced to look at me.

"How about you mind your own business?" I say, my voice low and dangerous.

"Hey, I don't want any trouble, man", the boy says, putting his hands by his head and backing away from me. "I'm just curious, that's all."

I step back, turning to my sink. "Yeah? Well, some things are just… private."

He stays quiet for a while I try to focus on the scrambling of glass and metal instead of the shrinking room and wipe away some sweat from my forehead. The air is thick and hot and I can barely breathe.  
"You all right?" the boy next to me asks cautiously.

"I'm fine", I say, clenching my teeth together.

"You know, I thought a Dauntless like you would be much braver then to hide away in another faction." He frowns. "Come to think of it, that girl of yours doesn't seem like she belongs in Dauntless at all."

Something inside of me snaps. Hatred makes my vision go red at the edges.  
"Yeah? Well, you seem like you belong in Candor," I hiss, my voice echoing in the room, "because apparently you can't ever shut up." I take in a deep breath, trying to fight the urge to punch him in the face. "Don't ever talk about her again, you understand? Or about me, or my life."

My hands are shaking and I can't control them. The heat feels like a blanket wrapping around me and I can't breathe, the walls bending inward, moving toward me slowly. Why did this fear have to be one I can't get over?

"What's going on over here?" Someone shouts and I see a man with black hair and black beard come toward me, dressed in a yellow shirt. "No fighting in my kitchen. Get back to work." He must be the chef.

"I'm not sure he's going to be able to work", the boy next to me says. "Look's like he's about to pass out."

I've had enough from that boy. I turn around, my vision blurred with anger- or sweat, I can't really tell. I clench my hands into fist, lifting them like I'm about to throw a punch but my hands are shaking too much.

"Hey! Calm down!" the chef says, putting a hand on my lifted arm. "You're obviously not in the shape for working, you need to calm down. Get out of my kitchen, you're done for today."

I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, shaking my head. "I'm fine, I can work."

"You're obviously not fine", he says, nodding toward my hands. "It's okay, Jeremy will cover your work."

"Hey!" the boy next to me protests. The chef glares at him, but I leave the room as fast as I can before he changes his mind. The air is cooler outside of the kitchen and I sink into a crouch leaning against the wall. I can finally breathe normally again. I never want to go back into that room.

**What do you think? As usual, please leave a review and tell me what you thought, it's what keeps me going. Also, I'll try to post a little more often.**


	5. When You Walked In

I close my eyes, waiting until I'm calm again, before I walk toward the dining hall. I'm starving. I search the room and immediately feel a littler better when I see Tris's blond, small figure. I approach them, sitting down next to Tris.

"What happened?" Tris asks. Apparently I must look as terrible as I feel.

"In their enthusiasm for conflict resolution," I say, "the Amity have apparently forgotten that meddling creates more conflict. If we stay here much longer, I am going to punch someone, and it's not going to be pretty."  
Caleb and might-as-well-be-his-girlfriend Susan raises their eyebrows and a couple of Amity next to us glare at me.

"You heard me", I say, annoyed by their innocence.

The effect of my words is what I was hoping for – they all look away, probably a little embarrassed about being caught staring.

"As I said, what happened?" Tris repeats.

"I'll tell you later", is my response, since I do not wish to attract any more hatful looks from the Amity when I start telling Tris about what happened with words that would probably become more and more violent.

That's when a hand lands on Tris's bad shoulder and her jaw clenches in pain. I stiffen because I know whom that hand belongs to.

"She got shot in that shoulder", I say, not really wanting to talk to him but at the same time not going to let him hurt her.

"My apologies", my father says and sits down on the other side of Tris.  
"What do you want?" Tris says. Her hostility toward him makes me feel a little better. At least she's got my back. I'm not alone anymore – Marcus cannot hurt me. Even though I know that I refuse to look at Marcus, to look into those cold eyes. I can't. Instead, I stare down at the table.

"Beatrice", Susan says in a low, scolding voice. "There's no need to-"  
"Susan, please", Tris's brother says, and I remember that he knows.

At least Susan listens to him.

"I asked you a question", Tris says to Marcus.

"I would like to discuss something with you. The other Abnegation and myself have discussed it and decided that we should not stay here", Marcus replies, voice tight with suppressed anger. "We believe that, given the inevitability of further conflict in our city, it would be selfish of us to stay here while what remains of our factions is inside that fence. We would like to request that you escort us."

No matter how I feel about my father, and no matter what painful memories is brought up when he speaks with that voice, like he's bottled up all of his anger and is about to explode, I have to admit that it sounds like a good plan. Just like even though Jeremy was very annoying, I have to admit that he was right about one thing. It isn't very Dauntless of us to hide away in Amity.  
Tris doesn't say anything for a few seconds, and then I feel her eyes on me, although I can't look up. I'm too afraid that I'll meet Marcus's grey, hard eyes instead of Tris's beautiful, bright ones.

"What do you think?" Tris asks me.

I take in a deep breath. No matter how much I'd like to get as far away from Marcus as possible, I've already made up my mind about what is the right choice here.

"I think we should leave the day after tomorrow", I say.

"Okay", Marcus says as stands. "Thank you."

Then he moves farther away from us to sit with the Abnegation. I feel my entire body relax as he leaves. Tris moves closer to me, taking my hand under the table. Although it is not much, it is comforting enough.

When we're finished eating Tris tells me that she's going for a walk. I would've offered to come with but something in her eyes tells me that she wants to be alone, the way she doesn't quite meet _my_ eyes makes me think she's up to something. But I don't ask any questions, because I trust her. If something is wrong she'll tell me when she's ready.

So I decide to head back to my room and maybe get some rest. It feels like I've been working the whole day although it is not even lunchtime yet. The claustrophobic kitchen and the meeting with my father took everything out of me.

On my way to the room I bump into Johanna Reyes.

"Tobias!" she says and smiles. "I'm so glad you're still here."

I just nod, unsure what to say.

"You should know," she continued, "that your father and I have been good friends for a long time and I would've offered you more protection here if I could. But, as you know, I'm not the leader of our faction, merely the mouthpiece. It is the people of Amity that decide."

"Yes, I… I know." _But I don't like it._

"Well, then." She offers me her hand. "Stay out of trouble."

_I'll try_, I think_, _shaking her hand.

I go to bed early that night. Shortly after I've fallen asleep, or what feels like shortly after, the door to my room creaked open. I squint against the light and see Tris standing in the doorway, looking a little unsecure.  
"C'mere", I mumble, moving back in the bed to give her room.

Only when she's coming toward me I notice what she was sleeping in, just a t-shirt too big for her, showing of her legs.

"Bed dream?" I ask her as she lies down.

She nods, but doesn't say anything.

"What happened?"

It must've been too horrible to talk about, because she just shakes her head. It pains me to see her hurt like this, even if it was just a bad dream. I place my palm on her cheek.

"We're all right, you know", I say, my voice soft. "You and me. Okay?"

She nods again.

"Nothing else is all right," I continue, "but we are."

"Tobias", she says, finally speaking. But she doesn't keep talking, instead, she kisses me.

Warmth spreads through my body and I let my hand slide from her cheek, down her side. She's so soft.

My breaths come faster as she wraps her leg around me. My body seems to know exactly what to do even though touching her makes my thoughts cloudy and I can't think straight.

My hands are suddenly on her back and I press her closer, feeling like she's too far away even though she's right here.

I kiss her on the cheek and down her neck until I feel my hands touching the bandage on her right shoulder. She stiffens, pulling back a little and dragging her t-shirt down again.

I suddenly feel empty and cold when her arms are not around me anymore. I know that I shouldn't feel like this; she told me she didn't want to move too fast, this shouldn't have been a surprise.

"Sorry", Tris says, her voice thick from choking back tears.

I find her cheek with my hand again and wipe a few tears away.

"I don't mean to be such a mess." Her voice shakes as she speaks. "I just feel so…"

She doesn't continue, but I still understand. When my mom died, I felt angry and frustrated because it was so unfair, at the same time as I was so sad and grieving.

"It's wrong", I say. "It doesn't matter if your parents are in a better place – they aren't here with you, and that's wrong, Tris. It shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have happened to you. And anyone who tells you it's okay is a liar."

She starts to cry again, and this time she doesn't hold back again. Her body shakes with sobs and I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight, letting her know that she's not alone. I hold her like that until she stops crying and calms down.  
"Sleep", I say then. "I'll fight the bad dreams off if they come to get you."

"With what?" She says, a small smile curling her lips.

"My bare hands, obviously."

She wraps her arms around me and we're both quiet. I don't know how long we lie there, but I let her start to fall asleep before saying what's been on my mind since she came to my room.

"I love you, Tris", I whisper.

I'm not sure if she's already asleep or if she heard me but didn't want to speak, but she doesn't say anything. I convince myself that the first option is she truth.


	6. The Faction of Good Moods

**I'm so sorry for not updating in a looong time! I've just been very busy during the summer and with school and stuff… I just haven't had time, but I do have a couple of chapters prepared now so I'll post them when I have time. I hope you enjoy! :)**

When I wake up early in the morning Tris is still asleep, but instead of trying to go back to sleep I decide to use the extra time to shave. I haven't done it in a while. I find an electric razor in the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror in my room.

It still feels weird sometimes, staring at my own reflection for a long time. It feels selfish. That's what Abnegation did to me, and I don't like it.

A movement in the mirror catches my eye and I see Tris sitting up in my bed.

"Good morning", I say. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay", she replies, getting out of bed. She walks up to me, putting her arms around me. Her touch makes me feel warm and light, and I put the razor away. We stand there for a while, both quiet. I let my hands slide over her fingers, feeling her soft skin against mine.

"I should go get ready", Tris finally says.

I think I remember her saying something about working in the laundry room today.

"I'll get you something to wear." She shouldn't have to walk around in a short t-shirt.

I shuffle through the clothes in my dresser that the Amity provided me with and find a pair of jeans shorts to give her.

She puts them on, gives me short kiss and then she leaves.

I finish shaving and head to the bathroom with a clean set of clothes. I take a long, warm shower and brush my teeth. Walking toward the dining hall for breakfast I notice some kind of commotion in the hallway. As I come closer I see that it's Tris and… Peter, fighting. My body freezes as I instantly remember Peter holding Tris over the chasm, although this time it's different. She's stronger, self-confident. She could injure him really bad if she wanted to.  
People dressed in all different kinds of colors tries to hold them apart, yelling at them to stop. Peter punches Tris in the stomach and she bends forward, but she recovers quickly and lifts her elbows as if to hit him in the face. I break out of the shock and jerk forward to stop them both but an Amity reaches Tris first, pulling her away from Peter. She fights the arms holding her back with a fierce look in her face, and I barely recognize her as the girl from last night.

"Tris, calm down!" I try to tell her.

"He has the hard drive!" she yells back at me. "He stole it from me! He has it!"

That must be what caused the fight.

I walk over to Peter lying on the ground and place a foot on Peter's chest to keep him from trying to fight me. I bend down and take the hard dive out of his pocket.

Looking at him, I feel old hatred coursing through me. "We won't be in a safe house forever, and this wasn't very smart of you", I say to Peter, my voice low. Then I turn toward Tris. "Not very smart of you, either. Do you want to get us kicked out?"

She scowls as the Amity man holding her starts to pull her away. She strains against him again.  
"What do you think you're doing?" She yells. "Let go of me!"

"You violated the terms of our peace agreement", the Amity man replies calmly. "We must follow protocol."

"Just go", I say. "You need to cool down."

Luckily, no one protests against that and she listens to me, letting the Amity take her down the hallway.

The hallway is crowded with people shouting, running, talking. I look around, disoriented, and I suddenly feel suffocated by all the people, like I've got no space to breathe. My thoughts are racing and I don't know where to go, but I know I need to get out. I hurry toward the nearest exit and can't relax until I'm out in the orchard, breathing in the fresh air and smelling dirt and plants. I let my feet wander to wherever they want, walking for a long time, just thinking. I end up sitting down next to a tree, the branches shielding me from the hot sun. I lean my head back, closing my eyes.

Will we be kicked out after this? If so, where will we go? Back to the city, like Marcus said? But to which faction? Should we try to find out what happened to the rest of the Dauntless?

I've almost fallen asleep when I hear someone call out my name, or my nick name.  
"Four!" It is Tris's voice, getting closer. "Four! Where are you?"

"Tris?" I say, a little confused over why she was calling my Four. I get up.

She giggles as she sees me, ducking under a branch to get to her. She starts to run toward me but as she gets close she lurches to the side and almost falls. I reach out for her, my hand touching her waist so she doesn't fall. She looks up and puts her face close to mine.

"What did they-" I try to say but she kisses me, stopping me from talking.  
I kiss her back but break away pretty quickly, because she's clearly not herself.

"Tris, what did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."

"That's not very nice of you to say", she says, voice light. "They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax-"

"I'm not going to kiss you", I interrupt her. "I'm going to figure out what's going on."

She seems to be thinking about that for a moment, but then she breaks into a big smile.

"That's why you like me!" she says, sounding delighted. "Because you're not very nice either! It makes so much more sense now."

I roll my eyes. "Come on. We're going to see Johanna."

"I like you, too", Tris says.

"That's encouraging", I say. "Come on."

She starts to stumble forward next to me in a very slow pace, giggling.

"Oh, for God's sake. I'll just carry you."

I put one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her up. She puts her arms around my neck and kisses me on the cheek.  
I carry her all the way to Johanna's office. I'm not sure I like this new Tris at all, all girly and giggly, swinging her feet up and down as I walk. I want the strong, brave and smart Tris back. She's the one I fell in love with.

Where is she, and what the hell did they do to her?

Johanna's office has one desk and several bookshelves along the walls of the room.

She looks up as we enter, a surprised look on her face.

"You really shouldn't cover up your scar", Tris says, unaware of the problem. "You look prettier with your hair out of your face."

I put Tris down on the floor and she starts laughing out of nowhere, but I ignore her.

"What did you do to her?" I ask Johanna, annoyed. "What in God's name did you do?"

"I…" Johanna looks stunned, frowning at Tris. "They must have given her too much. She's very small; they probably didn't take her height and weight into account."

"They must have given her too much of what?" I insist.

"You have a nice voice", Tris interrupts.

"Tris, please be quiet", I say.

"The peace serum," Johanna replies. "In small doses, it has a mild, calming effect and improves the mood. The only side effect is some slight dizziness. We administer it to members of our community who have trouble keeping the peace."

"I'm not an idiot", I say with a snort. "Every member of your community has trouble keeping the peace, because they're all human. You probably dump it into the water supply."

Johanna's expression doesn't change the slightest at my words; it remains calm. She takes a while to reply, folding her hands and choosing her words.

"Clearly you know that is not the case, or this conflict would not have occurred. But whatever we agree to do here, we do together, as a faction. If I could give the serum to everyone in this city, I would. You would certainly not be in the situation you are in now if I had."

"Oh, definitely", I say sarcastically. "Drugging the entire population is the best solution to our problem. Great plan."  
"Sarcasm is not kind, Four", Johanna says calmly. "Now, I am sorry about the mistake in giving too much to Tris, I really am. But she violated the terms of our agreement, and I'm afraid that you might not be able to stay here much longer as a result. The conflict between her and the boy – Peter – is not something we can forget."

_Neither can I._

"Don't worry. We intend to leave as soon as humanly possible", I say.  
"Good." Johanna smiles. "Peace between Amity and Dauntless can only happen when we maintain our distance from each other."  
"That explains a lot", I say, anger boiling inside of me.

"Excuse me? What are you insinuating?"

"It explains why, under a pretense of neutrality - as if such a thing is possible! – you have left us to die at the hands of the Erudite."

Johanna sighs, looking away from me.

"The Amity wouldn't do something like that", Tris protests in a high-pitched voice. "That's mean."

"It is for the sake of peace that we remain uninvolved-" Johanna starts, but I interrupt her.

"Peace. Yes, I'm sure it will be very peaceful when we are all either dead or cowering in submission under the threat of mind control or stuck in an endless simulation.

Johanna grimaces as she says: "The decision was not mine to make. If it was, perhaps we would be having a different conversation right now."  
"Are you saying you disagree with them?" I ask.

"I am saying, that it isn't my place to disagree with my faction publicly, but I might, in the privacy of my own heart."

God. Doesn't anyone get to have their own opinion in this faction?

"Tris and I will be gone in two days. I hope your faction doesn't change their decision to make this compound a safe house."

"Our decisions are not easily unmade", Johanna says. "What about Peter?"  
"You'll have to del with him separately, because he won't be coming with us."  
I take Tris's hand and she rises.

"Four", Johanna says. "If you and your friends would like to remain… untouched by our serum, you might want to avoid the bread."

"Thanks", I say bitterly, a sour taste in my mouth.

Tris is skipping, jumping and tripping all the way back to her room, where I put her to await the serum wearing off.


	7. Death or Life

**I'm so sorry for not updating in a looong time! I've just, like I've said several times, been very busy during the summer and with school and stuff… I just haven't had time and I don't think I'll be posting regularly, it'll come every now and then… but I do have a couple of chapters prepared now so I'll post them when I have time. I hope you enjoy! :)**

When I wake up early in the morning Tris is still asleep, but instead of trying to go back to sleep I decide to use the extra time to shave. I haven't done it in a while. I find an electric razor in the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror in my room.

It still feels weird sometimes, staring at my own reflection for a long time. It feels selfish. That's what Abnegation did to me, and I don't like it.

A movement in the mirror catches my eye and I see Tris sitting up in my bed.

"Good morning", I say. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay", she replies, getting out of bed. She walks up to me, putting her arms around me. Her touch makes me feel warm and light, and I put the razor away. We stand there for a while, both quiet. I let my hands slide over her fingers, feeling her soft skin against mine.

"I should go get ready", Tris finally says.

I think I remember her saying something about working in the laundry room today.

"I'll get you something to wear." She shouldn't have to walk around in a short t-shirt.

I shuffle through the clothes in my dresser that the Amity provided me with and find a pair of jeans shorts to give her.

She puts them on, gives me short kiss and then she leaves.

I finish shaving and head to the bathroom with a clean set of clothes. I take a long, warm shower and brush my teeth. Walking toward the dining hall for breakfast I notice some kind of commotion in the hallway. As I come closer I see that it's Tris and… Peter, fighting. My body freezes as I instantly remember Peter holding Tris over the chasm, although this time it's different. She's stronger, self-confident. She could injure him really bad if she wanted to.  
People dressed in all different kinds of colors tries to hold them apart, yelling at them to stop. Peter punches Tris in the stomach and she bends forward, but she recovers quickly and lifts her elbows as if to hit him in the face. I break out of the shock and jerk forward to stop them both but an Amity reaches Tris first, pulling her away from Peter. She fights the arms holding her back with a fierce look in her face, and I barely recognize her as the girl from last night.

"Tris, calm down!" I try to tell her.

"He has the hard drive!" she yells back at me. "He stole it from me! He has it!"

That must be what caused the fight.

I walk over to Peter lying on the ground and place a foot on Peter's chest to keep him from trying to fight me. I bend down and take the hard dive out of his pocket.

Looking at him, I feel old hatred coursing through me. "We won't be in a safe house forever, and this wasn't very smart of you", I say to Peter, my voice low. Then I turn toward Tris. "Not very smart of you, either. Do you want to get us kicked out?"

She scowls as the Amity man holding her starts to pull her away. She strains against him again.  
"What do you think you're doing?" She yells. "Let go of me!"

"You violated the terms of our peace agreement", the Amity man replies calmly. "We must follow protocol."

"Just go", I say. "You need to cool down."

Luckily, no one protests against that and she listens to me, letting the Amity take her down the hallway.

The hallway is crowded with people shouting, running, talking. I look around, disoriented, and I suddenly feel suffocated by all the people, like I've got no space to breathe. My thoughts are racing and I don't know where to go, but I know I need to get out. I hurry toward the nearest exit and can't relax until I'm out in the orchard, breathing in the fresh air and smelling dirt and plants. I let my feet wander to wherever they want, walking for a long time, just thinking. I end up sitting down next to a tree, the branches shielding me from the hot sun. I lean my head back, closing my eyes.

Will we be kicked out after this? If so, where will we go? Back to the city, like Marcus said? But to what faction? Should we try to find out what happened to the rest of the Dauntless?

I've almost fallen asleep when I hear someone call out my name, or my nick name.  
"Four!" It is Tris's voice, getting closer. "Four! Where are you?"

"Tris?" I say, a little confused over why she was calling my Four. I get up.

She giggles as she sees me, ducking under a branch to get to her. She starts to run toward me but as she gets close she lurches to the side and almost falls. I reach out for her, my hand touching her waist so she doesn't fall. She looks up and puts her face close to mine.

"What did they-" I try to say but she kisses me, stopping me from talking.  
I kiss her back but break away pretty quickly, because she's clearly not herself.

"Tris, what did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."

"That's not very nice of you to say", she says, voice light. "They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax-"

"I'm not going to kiss you", I interrupt her. "I'm going to figure out what's going on."

She seems to be thinking about that for a moment, but then she breaks into a big smile.

"That's why you like me!" she says, sounding delighted. "Because you're not very nice either! It makes so much more sense now."

I roll my eyes. "Come on. We're going to see Johanna."

"I like you, too", Tris says.

"That's encouraging", I say. "Come on."

She starts to stumble forward next to me in a very slow pace, giggling.

"Oh, for God's sake. I'll just carry you."

I put one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her up. She puts her arms around my neck and kisses me on the cheek.  
I carry her all the way to Johanna's office. I'm not sure I like this new Tris at all, all girly and giggly, swinging her feet up and down as I walk. I want the strong, brave and smart Tris back. She's the one I fell in love with.

Where is she, and what the hell did they do to her?

Johanna's office has one desk and several bookshelves along the walls of the room.

She looks up as we enter, a surprised look on her face.

"You really shouldn't cover up your scar", Tris says, unaware of the problem. "You look prettier with your hair out of your face."

I put Tris down on the floor and she starts laughing out of nowhere, but I ignore her.

"What did you do to her?" I ask Johanna, annoyed. "What in God's name did you do?"

"I…" Johanna looks stunned, frowning at Tris. "They must have given her too much. She's very small; they probably didn't take her height and weight into account."

"They must have given her too much of what?" I insist.

"You have a nice voice", Tris interrupts.

"Tris, please be quiet", I say.

"The peace serum," Johanna replies. "In small doses, it has a mild, calming effect and improves the mood. The only side effect is some slight dizziness. We administer it to members of our community who have trouble keeping the peace."

"I'm not an idiot", I say with a snort. "Every member of your community has trouble keeping the peace, because they're all human. You probably dump it into the water supply."

Johanna's expression doesn't change the slightest at my words; it remains calm. She takes a while to reply, folding her hands and choosing her words.

"Clearly you know that is not the case, or this conflict would not have occurred. But whatever we agree to do here, we do together, as a faction. If I could give the serum to everyone in this city, I would. You would certainly not be in the situation you are in now if I had."

"Oh, definitely", I say sarcastically. "Drugging the entire population is the best solution to our problem. Great plan."  
"Sarcasm is not kind, Four", Johanna says calmly. "Now, I am sorry about the mistake in giving too much to Tris, I really am. But she violated the terms of our agreement, and I'm afraid that you might not be able to stay here much longer as a result. The conflict between her and the boy – Peter – is not something we can forget."

_Neither can I._

"Don't worry. We intend to leave as soon as humanly possible", I say.  
"Good." Johanna smiles. "Peace between Amity and Dauntless can only happen when we maintain our distance from each other."  
"That explains a lot", I say, anger boiling inside of me.

"Excuse me? What are you insinuating?"

"It explains why, under a pretense of neutrality - as if such a thing is possible! – you have left us to die at the hands of the Erudite."

Johanna sighs, looking away from me.

"The Amity wouldn't do something like that", Tris protests in a high-pitched voice. "That's mean."

"It is for the sake of peace that we remain uninvolved-" Johanna starts, but I interrupt her.

"Peace. Yes, I'm sure it will be very peaceful when we are all either dead or cowering in submission under the threat of mind control or stuck in an endless simulation.

Johanna grimaces as she says: "The decision was not mine to make. If it was, perhaps we would be having a different conversation right now."  
"Are you saying you disagree with them?" I ask.

"I am saying, that it isn't my place to disagree with my faction publicly, but I might, in the privacy of my own heart."

God. Doesn't anyone get to have their own opinion in this faction?

"Tris and I will be gone in two days. I hope your faction doesn't change their decision to make this compound a safe house."

"Our decisions are not easily unmade", Johanna says. "What about Peter?"  
"You'll have to del with him separately, because he won't be coming with us."  
I take Tris's hand and she rises.

"Four", Johanna says. "If you and your friends would like to remain… untouched by our serum, you might want to avoid the bread."

"Thanks", I say bitterly, a sour taste in my mouth.

Tris is skipping, jumping and tripping all the way back to her room, where I put her to await the serum wearing off.


	8. Frozen and Can't Breathe

When I check on Tris the third hour after we've returned from Johanna's office she's laying on the floor making clicking noises with her tongue as she made a butterfly with her hands.

"Four!" she exclaimed as she heard the door creak open. "Look! Butterfly!"

"Yeah", I say, sitting down next to her. "Yeah, I see."

She smiles expectantly at me for a while, and then frowns. "What sound does butterflies make?"

"I… I don't know, actually."

So she starts to try out different sounds with her mouth and that's when I leave again.

It isn't until two hours later, on the fifth hour that she's back to normal. She sits on her bed as I open the door, staring at the wall.

"Thank God", I breathe, leaning my forehead against the cold door. "I was beginning to think it would never wear off and I would have to leave you here to… smell flowers, or whatever you wanted to do while you were on that stuff."

"I'll kill them", Tris says. "I will kill them."  
"Don't bother. We're leaving soon anyway", I say, closing the door and taking out the hard drive from my pocket. "I thought we could hide this behind your dresser."  
"That's where it was before", she protests.

"Yeah, and that's why Peter won't look for it here again."

I pull the dresser out a few centimeters from the wall, just enough to squeeze the hard drive behind it.

"Why couldn't I fight the peace serum?" Tris asks. "If my brain is weird enough o resist the simulation serum, why not this one?"

"I don't know, really", I say as I sit down next to her. "Maybe in order to fight off a serum, you have to want to."

"Well, obviously I wanted to", she says, but then her eyes turn hesitant. I understand why.

"Sometimes people just want to be happy, even if it's not real", I say softly.

She's quiet for a second, before saying that I might be right.

"Are you conceding?" I say, pretending to be surprised. "Seems like that serum did you some good after all…"

Take that back", she says, shoving me hard. "Take it back now."

"Okay, okay!" I say, lifting my hands to show surrender. "It's just… I'm not very nice either, you know. That's why I like you so-"

"Out!" Tris points at the door, glaring at me.

I laugh and kiss her on the cheek before I do as she told me.

At dinner I sit with Peter, Caleb and Susan. Tris isn't here, but I'm guessing she's too tired.

I purposely avoid looking at Peter as I eat and concentrate on my food.

"So when are you and Tris leaving, Tobias?" Caleb asks me.

I look up and shrug. "In about two days, I think."

"Oh. Well, if it's alright, Susan and I are coming with you."

"Actually", Susan says, voice soft. "I was planning on staying here. You can leave if you want to though, of course."

"What? I thought you said-"

Caleb is interrupted by Tris, running toward us. Her eyes are wide with fear and I touch her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"Erudite", she blurts out, trying to catch her breath.

My heartbeat's loud in my ears. "Coming here?"

She nods.

"Do we have time to run?" I ask.

The other Abnegation sitting close to us are now coming up to us, listening carefully. One of them is my father.

"Why do we need to run?" Susan looks confused. "The Amity established this place as a safe house. No conflict allowed."

"The Amity will have trouble enforcing that policy", Marcus says. "How do you stop conflict without conflict?"

Susan nods, as if saying that he's got a point.

"But we can't leave", Peter protests. "We don't have time. They'll see us."

"Tris has a gun. We can try to fight our way out", I suggest.

I've already started walking toward our rooms when Tris says; "Wait."

I turn around to look at her.

"I have an idea", she says. "Disguises. The Erudite don't know for sure that we're still here. We can pretend to be Amity."

"Those of us who aren't dressed like the Amity should go to the dormitories, then", says my father. "The rest of you, put your hair down; try to mimic their behavior."

We leave toward our bedrooms, Tris getting her gun and the Abnegation in grey changing to yellow and red.

I close the door to my room behind me and hurry toward my dresser. I make sure to choose a shirt with collar, and the only one I could find was in a horrible red color. I change as fast as I can and switch to a pair of jeans before leaving my room. I walk out to the hallway, through a door leading outside and throw the old Abnegation clothes in a trash bin.

"Do you think the Amity will lie for us?" Tris says from behind me, standing in the doorway.

"To prevent conflict? Absolutely."

Her eyes slip from my face down to my shirt.

"Nice shirt", she says.

I make a face. "It was the only thing that covered up the neck tattoo, okay?"

She smiles a little. At that moment, the five Erudite cars arrive.

Tris backs into the hallway and I focus hard on the latch on the trash bin, like it's way to complicated for me.  
About five blue-dressed Erudite step out of the cars, and the rest are Dauntless. Blue strips of fabric around their arms show their allegiance to the Erudite.

I take Tris's hand and we walk back to the dormitory hallway.

"I didn't think our faction would be that stupid", I say. You have the gun, right?"  
"Yes", she replies. "But there's no guarantee I can fire it with any accuracy with my left hand."

"You should work on that." Right now it seemed inevitable that there'd come a time where you might need your left hand to do the work for your right. We never know what will happen, what injuries we might suffer.

"I will, if we live", Tris says, her voice shaking.

I let my hands slide down her arms to comfort her. "Just bounce a little when you walk," I suggest while placing a kiss on her forehead, "and pretend you're afraid of their guns," I continue with a kiss between her eyebrows, "and act like the shrinking violet you could never be" – I place a kiss on her cheek – "and you'll be fine."

"Okay", she says, pulling my shirt down to kiss me.

Then a bell signals that everyone must gather in the dining hall for a meeting. We blend in among a group of Abnegation dressed in the Amity colors as we walk. I see Tris, walking a few feet in front of me, letting Susan's hair down so that it looks more Amity and advising an Abnegation woman to tell her kids to play tag, so that they don't seem so Stiff.

As we reach the dining hall I see two Dauntless traitors guarding the door. I try to look relaxed as I walk past the, my steps light as if I don't have a problem in the world.

A few rows next to me in the group I see Tris and Susan, laughing at some pretend joke.

I sit down by a table and Tris sits in front of me, on the opposite side of the table. It feels nice to always have her in sight, and to be able to look at her when this whole thing freaks me out. She makes me strong. And I need that in this moment, when Erudite or one of the Dauntless traitors might kill us anytime – maybe someone I used to know will pull the trigger.

I hear a loud banging on wood to get everyone's attention and Johanna speaks up, standing next to an Erudite woman in blue.

"Our Erudite and Dauntless friends are looking for some people", says Johanna, her voice and expression calm. "Several members of Abnegation, three members of Dauntless, and a former Erudite initiate. In the interest of full cooperation, I told them that the people they were looking for were, in fact, here," my heart skips a beat at her words – _were_? - _"_but have since moved on. They would like permission to search the premises, which means we have to vote. Does anyone object to a search?"

Nobody objects, even though I'm sure some people would've if the look on Johanna's face didn't tell them otherwise.

Johanna nods to the Erudite woman, who says to a group of Dauntless traitors: "Three of you stick around. The rest of you, search all the buildings and report back if you find anything. Go."

Betrayal wells up in me, making my hands into fists without me telling them to. How could my faction be so stupid, how can they be loyal to the faction that enslaved them and forced them to start a war on Abnegation?

I'm confident that I got rid of everything that could link me to Dauntless or Abnegation, although that doesn't seem to matter because one of the three Dauntless guards are walking toward me, her eyes locked on my back.  
"Your hair is pretty short for an Amity", she says to me.

"It's hot", I reply, but I do it too fast, my voice too sharp from betrayal.

I feel her finger hooking around the collar of my shirt and pulling it back, revealing my tattoo.  
I think fast. If I do nothing, they'll know I'm Dauntless, capture me and maybe Tris too, if they've seen us together. But if I attack, the rest will still come after me and we'll have to run, although the attack may cause a tumult distracting enough for us to be able to escape. So that's what I do.

I twist around, grabbing her wrist before she's able to react and yank her down toward me. She falls, her forehead smacking against the edge of the table.

That's when the other Dauntless guards notice what's going on. One of them fires at me and I duck automatically behind the table. I need protection from the bullets, so I pull the Dauntless female guard and shield my body with hers as I take her gun and fire over her shoulder at the guards.

That's when I notice Tris. Everyone in the room takes cover from the bullets while she's still sitting at the table, eyes wide from fear or shock, I can't tell. But I would've thought she, if anyone, would be able to react properly and help me, but she doesn't. She just sits there, staring.

"Tris!" I call out, trying to get her attention. "A little help here?"

She blinks like she's just woken up from sleep, and reaches for her gun. At the last moment, she freezes, looking at the end of here table where a Dauntless guard stands, his gun aimed at her head. My body freezes. _No! _I think. _No, Tris, you have to move, or shoot him, just do something, please! Now!_

But she doesn't move.

**Hope you guys liked this chapter, please leave a review telling me if you did, it keeps me motivated to keep posting and reminds me to update! Love y'all. **


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